Fleetwood Town put Arsenal out of the League Cup on penalties

Arsenal had 78 per cent of possession at Highbury Stadium, 641 passes to 180, 26 shots to 3 and 59 touches in the opposition box to Fleetwood Town's 8. Every one of those margins says the tie should have been routine. Fleetwood won it 5-3 on penalties, and the gap between the numbers and the outcome is the whole story of the evening.

The lead came against the run of everything. Neal was credited with the assist in the 21st minute and Loupalo-Bi applied the finish. Fleetwood managed 3 shots in the match and put 2 of them on target; one of those was the goal, and 1-0 was the half-time score. Mikel Arteta's response at the break was heavyweight, White and Ødegaard both coming on in the 46th minute, and the equaliser arrived in the 50th, scored by Gyökeres.

From there Arsenal settled into the pattern that filled the rest of the sheet. They finished with 7 shots on target and another 10 blocked, sent in 23 crosses to Fleetwood's 5, won 5 corners to 2 and passed at 88.3 per cent accuracy to 55.0. Fleetwood's answer was 5 saves, 29 clearances and bodies in the way. Lynch, the goalkeeper behind those saves, was beaten only by Gyökeres before the penalties came.

The defending had a price written through the rest of the numbers. Fleetwood committed 14 fouls to Arsenal's 5, won 41 duels to 54 and 11 aerial duels to 18, and sent 69 long balls to Arsenal's 42 while holding 22 per cent of possession. McLean, Batty and Cannon were all booked. That is what this kind of result costs, and Matt Lawlor's side paid it without breaking.

Lawlor took his goalscorer off in the 82nd minute, Davies replacing Loupalo-Bi, just as Arteta reached for Bruno Guimarães and Konsa. Then came the moment that tilted the end of the tie: Dowman was shown a red card in the 85th minute. There was no extra time, and the shoot-out finished 5-3 to Fleetwood, in front of 5,002 with Michael Salisbury refereeing.

Before this game Fleetwood's form guide read League Two throughout, bar an EFL Trophy win over Barnsley, and included defeats at Exeter City and Cheltenham Town. Arsenal's included a 2-0 win over Everton in the Premier League and a 2-2 draw at Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League. That is the distance between the clubs, and for one shoot-out it did not matter.